US President Donald Trump has threatened to slap an additional “penalty” on India due to the country’s involvement in the BRICS economic alliance.
Trump took to Truth Social on Wednesday to announce a 25% tariff on Indian goods to balance out a trade deficit with the South Asian nation.
He also said India would pay an additional “penalty” due to its relationship with Russia, later adding in a press conference that he plans to add the unspecified levy in part due to the country’s membership in BRICS.
“We’re negotiating right now – and it’s also BRICS. They have BRICS, which is basically a group of countries that are anti the United States, and India is a member of that, if you can believe it. It’s an attack on the dollar, and we’re not going to let anybody attack the dollar, so it’s partially BRICS and partially the trade situation, this deficit.”
BRICS held its first summit in 2009 and was originally known as BRIC, representing its four founding members: Brazil, Russia, India, and China. The acronym became BRICS after South Africa joined the group in 2010.
In 2024, it expanded membership to other nations, including Iran, Egypt, Ethiopia and the United Arab Emirates. Indonesia joined in early 2025.
Brazil, the current president of the group, also claims that Saudi Arabia is part of the bloc, but the Middle Eastern country has reportedly eschewed formal membership in the intercontinental economic alliance to avoid antagonizing the US.
The bloc also includes 10 “partner countries,” including Belarus, Bolivia, Kazakhstan, Cuba, Malaysia, Nigeria, Thailand, Uganda, Uzbekistan and Vietnam. Partner countries aren’t full-fledged members but are invited to participate in the BRICS summit and can endorse the alliance’s declarations.
Brazil says current BRICS priorities include “facilitating economic transactions between bloc countries, such as the use of local currencies; the development of international payment platforms; cooperation in government procurement; and the promotion of trade facilitation measures, among others.”
In 2023, the alliance reportedly began working on creating a common currency backed by gold and potentially additional precious metals and assets to circumvent international reliance on the US dollar, though officials from several of the bloc’s member countries claimed earlier this year that they weren’t pushing for de-dollarization.
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